Two- and three-dimensional nanoscale shapes can be constructed from folding a long strand of DNA. This folding is based on the specificity of the interactions between complementary nucleotides. Folding of the long DNA strand is aided by multiple short oligonucleotides, referred to as “staple” strands. Each oligonucleotide binds the longer DNA strand in multiple non-contiguous regions, resulting in various shapes. To produce a single shape such as a nanotube or nanosheet, hundreds (or even thousands) of select oligonucleotide staple strands may be required.
Tens of thousands of high-quality oligonucleotides (oligonucleotide pool) can be synthesized in parallel on chip-based platforms. Nonetheless, the amount of oligonucleotides (e.g., 1 pmol total) is far too small to be used directly for the assembly of two- and three-dimensional nanoscale nucleic acid structures.